WHO DID WHAT!
by Sawyer's girl9
Summary: Amanda has been a very bad girl, as Lara discovers. Will their friendship survive this new downfall? Or is revenge in Lara's nature? Some sexual references, swearing, etc... Please Review!
1. Chapter 1

Death in flame Chapter 1

Traffic at night time was pleasurable. No cars crawling along or pollution fumes reaching her nose- and certainly no police cars to chase her speed limit.

She accelerated on her motorcycle, speeding up normally full lanes, smiling as the devil-red Harley motorbike curved noiselessly, its engine purring at the freedom of the road.

Since there was no-one around, she removed her crimson helmet and stowed it away underneath the bike in a compartment. It wasn't as she could be arrested _anyway_- Ms Lady Croft held a certain fear in the hearts of those who dared to mess around with her. However, she welcomed confrontation with bad types of people. Adrenaline and satisfaction greeted success and she had never lost a fight with anyone- publicly.

Her hair was a rich satin brown and flew out behind her like a free bird, in its usual ladylike plait. Her eyes were also brown- sometimes soft and gentle but often hard and alert. She had plump lips pursed almost flirtatiously, which made her face oval and close to perfect.

She remained driving with one hand whilst the other tapped her headset.

"Alistair? Zip? Can you hear me?" she asked into it, and spun quickly around a roundabout, veering off in the direction of Abbingdon.

Her only response was static. Growing worried, she urged herself not to panic. She had been unable to contact them for the last three hours. Lara always kept in constant contact with her two friends, but now, on her way back from Bolivia, she had lost them, leaving her utterly alone. Their humour and guidance was what kept her going. To reassure herself again, she checked her pistols and made the bike go full speed (which was pretty fast, nought to a ninety in two seconds).

Swerving around the hedges that shielded her majestic mansion, which she had inherited from her deceased father, Richard Croft, Earl of Abbingdon. She may be Countess of Abbingdon but the challenging, unsuitable role in high class society left her more of an- outside person, to put it gently, as her adventures could be rather rough.

A glowing pyre met her eyes. The mansion was aflame, smoking and burning, an angry roar of flame tearing through her study, her bedroom, through Zip and Alistair's tech room-

"Wait!' she exclaimed "Zip! Alistair!"

She vaulted off her Harley, sprinted across the grass and launched through the expensive stain glass windows. Lara Croft leapt to her feet deftly, ripping the sleeve of her top to use as a cover over her mouth to stop the smoke. She looked around her quickly. She was in the hall, where her treasured archaeological finds and relics were proudly displayed, ancient and beautiful, black with the hellish fire that crackled around like an hissing snake.

But she left them to burn and cart wheeled over the unsteady floor boards towards the smoky tech room. Her slight weight made one of the weaker boards cave under her, and she felt herself falling into the deep basement.

Lara flung her grapple into the air above her, hoping for it to catch on something, anything. Just as she was about to fall into the fiery abyss, the grapple clanged on an expensive Japanese vase and caught her. It wasn't metal and it wouldn't last long before she fell so she dug her hands into the harsh metal of the grapple wire and climbed up.

In the nick of time she caught the beams and replaced the grapple into her belt. She stepped lightly on the hot floor, glad that Winston had been busy in Paris. She reached the tech room- but found it completely blocked by rafters from the fallen roof.

Determined to find her two best friends alive, unperturbed by the negative sight and possibility, Lara continued over the wood searching for a sign. The computers and laptops were smashed, and the headsets were broken.

But it didn't look like the work of the inferno.

Someone had deliberately burned the mansion.


	2. Chapter 2

Death in flame Chapter 2

His face laughed at her from the picture. James Rutland. Supposed arsonist. And possible killer.

Lara hurled the photograph across the room in anger, destroying it with a single shot from her pistols. She still had the same outfit on, her biker jacket, t-shirt and jeans with biker boots, since all her clothes were burnt to yarns in the mansion, which was now just rubble.

She was sitting in a rich hotel room, paid for her by her insistent lawyer. She hated every bit of it. Imagining how many third world people one night's rent could feed, she spent most of her time out of it. Japan was her favourite place but now it was irritable- trapping her when she wanted to hunt down Zip and Alistair. No-one had been able to uncover the wreckage of Croft Manor- her father's legacy.

She had lost everything, all her possessions, her friends, all her finds. But an archaeologist had to discover the past- and that meant the arsonist and killer. James Rutland had crossed her before, with Excalibur, but had been beaten.

Now she had to find him again. Unfortunately. He had been last sighted in Egypt, Cairo, so Cairo it was.

Chapter 2 cont'd

The gods and goddesses of Egypt stared down at Lara Croft in her turquoise top and shorts. She smiled at the history and wonder that always hypnotised her. Wistfully, she stepped down from the cabin cruiser and, checking her guns, walked confidently into town.

In a marketplace selling rugs and livestock, Lara realised she was being surrounded. Men swarmed around her greedily, fascinated by her pale skin and English beauty.

"Seventy camels for you, princess!"

"Come, my dear, be my wife!"

"You will be my seventh wife and raise our many children!"

"A good strong slave, you are!"

They called, reaching for her hands. She stepped back dominantly, placing a hand on her hip holster. "If you want me, come and get me."

She challenged, gesturing to her dual pistols.

They looked around them, shifting away as they realised how dangerous her looks could be. Worth their lives?

One unpleasant looking man stepped forward, thinking she was joking. She shot out a bullet near his foot and he hastily exited.

Lara continued, now not bothered by sellers, but bothered that she would not find James. After hours of searching the dusty, airless streets of Cairo, she entered a little café and ordered a light lunch.

"Good evening, Ms Croft. Long way from home." a voice said. She looked up at the tall man by her table. He had stylish brown hair and a crisp white suit, with dark sunglasses.

"Ah, James, nice to finally see you. Will you sit? Or do you prefer to _smoke_?"

He gave a brief smile and sat opposite her, signalling for wine to be poured.

"No, thank you. I don't drink."

"Yes, always the healthy option, Lara. I'm sure I don't understand you though. Smoke? Never in front of ladies."

She waved away the ignorant comment.

"So you don't recall a certain fire? Perhaps murder too?"

"Fire? Murder? Lara, are you accusing me of something?"

Lara set her eyes on him properly. Without doubt, even with his lies, she realised he was innocent. Then she figured something else out.

"Rutland, where's your girlfriend?"

He registered surprise. "Asking me if I'm single?"

She narrowed her eyes. He held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, no, I don't have a girlfriend."

Lara laughed. "You dumped Amanda? I doubt it. Where is she?"

James lowered his head. "Okay, you got me. But she left for England a few weeks ago. I haven't seen her since."

"Really?"

"Yes" He returned to his wine.

Lara dropped the subject and finished her food. Once she had done, James paid for the bill. Lara thanked him and they walked out of the café together. By now it must have been evening, at least eight o'clock. It felt strange to be so near James Rutland, an old enemy, on a cold night in Cairo. Suddenly he stopped. Instinctively, she stood straight, ready to shoot.

"You know I'm better than that!"

She locked her eyes on him suspiciously.

"Goodbye then, James." she said, moving away, alert. She was aware that he was running towards her and pulled out her pistols. She turned around and met his lips. He kissed her.


	3. Chapter 3

Death in Flame Chapter 3

Lara opened her eyes. She yawned and sat up in the comfortable bed, expecting to look out of her mansion window, with it's lush rose beds in the garden. But no, she only saw Cairo's palm trees and mountains of desert sand.

"What're you doin', Lara? It's seven am." a groggy voice asked her.

She turned over, dreading to see-

"RUTLAND!" she shouted furiously, covering her bare body with the sheets. She couldn't't resist a quick peek at her enemy- he wasn't as conscious as her at all, his anatomy displayed openly. She shuddered.

"Is this real? You can't be serious!"

"Yup, it's real, I ain't only in your dreams, Croft-"

She whipped around and punched him forcefully. "You dirty bastard! How dare you! Son of a bit-"

"Whoa! _You_ were the one who dragged me back here! This is _your _hotel room. I didn't know just how much you wanted me!" he retorted, running a cold finger over her bare shoulder. She pushed him off the bed, reaching for her clothes. He made a disappointed noise as her flesh vanished. He grabbed her arm. She stared at him coldly.

"Did you realise what you were doing last night, Lara?"

"What's it to you? You're just a liar and a fool."

"You seemed so- I don't know. Like you changed, became happier in yourself. Passionate, maybe. From what I know you're only passionate in archaeology. Why me?"

"I could never feel like that about you, Rutland. You're just fooling yourself. I need to find Amanda. Where is she?"

"I _told_ you. England. Probably Cornwall somewhere. You should pay me for that information. I couldn't normally reveal it to anyone." he told her expectantly.

She shot him in his left arm and walked to the door.

"I am _not_ a whore. If I ever come back, and I find you here, I _will_ kill you. Good riddance."

"W-what about last night?" he gasped in pain, on the floor.

"It never happened."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Amanda flicked back her blonde hair and lay back in the in the deckchair. She put on her cheap sunglasses and lounged in the sun. Her ugly black bikini hung loosely on her skinny body, making her look like a tanned stick insect- not the best of looks.

"Not Avalon, Amanda, just Cornwall."

Amanda turned to see her ex-best friend standing there.

"LARA!"

Lara Croft stood on the sunning lounge of the hotel, in a strapless top and black shorts. She smiled at the angry face of her old comrade.

"Go away, you bitch! You have no right to disturb my summer!" Amanda yelled.

Lara folded her arms. "Don't you think you're being a bit immature?"

"I don't care." she shouted, and stormed off to her hotel room. Lara waited awhile, then quietly followed. As soon as she reached her room, Lara kicked her and pulled out her shotgun.

Amanda soared across the room where she landed in a heap, bleeding from her nose and mouth.

"GET OUT! I never want to see you again! You ruined my life!"

"I think I saved your life, actually."

Amanda got to her feet furiously.

"That whole dramatic "your every breath is a gift from me" thing? Pathetic!" she mocked.

"Yes, a gift I am considering taking back."

"Stop with the comments, Lara, they bore me. What do you want?"

Lara hurtled herself at Amanda and slammed her into a wall.

"Revenge." she laughed darkly. The next thing Amanda knew, a knife was in her arm, her own blood splashing over her. Like the typical villain she was, she screamed.

"Now, tell me, Amanda: did you burn down my mansion?"

Amanda grimaced. "Aw, your poor house gone? How does it feel to lose everything?"

Lara responded by thrusting another knife into her leg.

"Okay! I did it! Let me go! Please, stop!" she moaned, whimpering pitifully.

Lara Croft stared into the eyes of the arsonist coolly.

"I'm not finished. Did you murder Zip and Alistair?" she asked, trembling with uncontrollable rage.

Amanda stopped squirming. She gritted her teeth painfully.

"Doesn't this feel familiar? Are you going to kill me all over again, Lara? I left them to die, just as _you_ left _me. _And it _hurt_ them, Lara. They screamed for YOU to save them, but where were you? On another adventure, waiting for them to do everything. I'm glad I did it. Oh yes, I know all about your affair with James. How could you do that to me, Lara? Oh, I know. It's because you're too HEARTLESS!"

Lara, furious with rage and contempt, raised her last knife and cut out Amanda's heart, feeling satisfied as her face paled and her body fell to the ground. Lara raised her shotgun and shot the organ in her hand.

"Now who is the one without a heart?" she yelled.

The end


End file.
